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Thea’s smile faded too. She hadn’t expected anyone to be there. By rights, the public weren’t really allowed access to this part of the museum unless it was a pre-arranged tour, which they often set up for schools.
‘I wanted to show Miles where I worked – I hope that’s okay? I thought it better at the weekend so that we weren’t interrupting work.’
‘Fine, fine.’
Thea noticed he didn’t sound fine about it. ‘You don’t have to leave. I was literally just pointing out the office on the way to the library.’
‘No, it’s all right. It was only a flying visit. You can lock up afterwards?’
‘Of course. I’ve got the key.’ She gazed after him as he left the office, wondering why he’d locked the door from the inside. In all the years she’d been working there, since she had left university with her Master’s degree in archives and record management, she’d never known anyone to lock themselves in.
She looked about her and thought how eerily quiet it was. Although she did work down there on her own on occasion, during the week there was always the sound of footsteps outside – colleagues popping in to use the photocopier or accessing the archives for research purposes, and the general hustle and bustle of staff. Of course, the museum itself was busy upstairs at the weekend, but not the parts that were generally closed to the public.
Miles touched her arm, making her jump. ‘Are you all right, Thea?’
‘Oh, yes, sorry. I was lost in thought.’ She turned to Miles. He was peering around the office. He said, ‘I thought it would be bigger, seeing as it’s an archive.’
‘Ah, this isn’t where all the collections are stored.’ They walked past a row of filing cabinets and rounded a corner. ‘This is my cubicle.’
He walked over to her desk and looked at the artwork on the wall.
Thea smiled. She felt so fortunate to handle amazing collections of artwork and priceless books, and she felt privileged as an archivist that her job was to look after them for future generations.
‘So, what is it exactly that you do as an archivist?’
‘Well, I guess you could say there are three parts to my role. Here – let me show you what I enjoy the most.’ Thea picked up a pair of white cotton gloves from the desk drawer and slipped them on as she walked out of her cubicle. In the centre of the room was a long table where there were some documents she was in the middle of archiving. ‘So, this part of my job involves actually handling the collection.’
She pointed. ‘Here we have a new document to add to the collection, so I have to carefully separate the document pages, take off any elastic bands, paper-clips, that sort of thing, ready to store in folders, or boxes – whatever is appropriate for the document or artefact in question. Then they have to be archived correctly to ensure they can easily be found.’
Thea carefully unfolded the map. After checking the document over, she decided where the most appropriate place was to file it. ‘Now, if only my job was all about doing this.’ Thea reluctantly took off her gloves and walked over to her cubicle. She sat down at her desk. Miles followed. ‘So, now I have to do something we callestablishing intellectual control.’
Miles said, ‘What does that mean?’
Thea switched on the computer. She swivelled around in her seat to look at him. ‘Basically, it’s one thing taking physical care of the collections, but we also need to keep records of where we are storing or archiving these items too. We refer to our online databases as finding aids, so those boxes and files can be easily located and are referenced at the collection level and item level so researchers and the public know what we have. That’s the second part of my job. The third part of my work really revolves around kind of supporting or championing what we have. I guess like spreading the word online through places like Wikipedia so researchers and the public are aware of our collections. Anyone can get in touch and view our archive.’
Thea caught Miles yawning.
She didn’t take offence. ‘Too much information?’
He nodded. ‘Yeah. Sorry.’
Thea stood up. ‘Shall we go and see the library?’
Miles yawned again. ‘Can we save that for another time?’
Thea looked at him. ‘It’s a really impressive library.’
He apologised again. ‘Can I be honest?’
‘Of course.’
‘I’m not that into books. You’d have to twist my arm to visit a bookshop, let alone a musty old library.’
‘But it’s not—’
‘I really don’t know how you do this all day. I thought my job was boring.’
‘Your job – boring? What’s boring about jetting off to the Hong Kong?’
